Abolition of the Royal Familia
Between the album title and the cover art, you might expect that The Orb’s *Abolition of the Royal Familia* advocates for insurrection. But the reality of the record, a companion to 2018’s *No Sounds Are Out of Bounds*, is more complicated. For all their implicit critique of the British monarchy, Alex Paterson and his fellow pranksters (including longtime comrades Youth, Steve Hillage, and Roger Eno) mainly occupy themselves as they always have, molding ambient, dub, and house into voluminous shapes the color and texture of cotton candy. It all kicks off with a surprisingly groove-heavy opening, as the gauzy disco of “Daze (Missing & Messed Up Mix)” gives way to the heavier “House of Narcotics (Opium Wars Mix)” and then the peak-time house of “Hawk Kings (Oseberg Buddhas Buttonhole).” But the bulk of the album is as beatifically supine as The Orb has ever sounded. “Afros, Afghans and Angels (Helgö Treasure Chest)” is a pastel snapshot of easy-listening orchestra; “Shape Shifters (In Two Parts) \[Coffee & Ghost Train Mix\]” morphs from jazzy new age into moonwalking reggae. Even the closing “Slave Till U Die No Matter What U Buy,” an ambient remake of Jello Biafra’s “Message From Our Sponsor,” is dreamy rather than dread-filled. The Orb has always known how to channel even the zaniest impulses into compellingly psychedelic music; on *Abolition of the Royal Familia*, their gallows humor sounds deceptively sweet.
The Orb (Alex Paterson and Michael Rendall) release their new album on March 27th. The album features Youth (Killing Joke), Steve Hillage (Gong, System 7), Roger Eno (co-creator of the Apollo album with Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois) & Jah Wobble (PiL, Primal Scream Orb, Invaders of the Heart). The Orb will be supporting the album with a European Tour (dates to be announced) with support from Mad Professor & Don Letts. Really The Orb should need no introduction by now, but in essence they’re a rotating cast of members helmed by Paterson that began in 1988 and still thrives to this day. They were there since UK acid house day one, providing a unique ambient take on the musical milieu and soon rising to chart-topping, huge-venue-headlining prominence. They’ve released 19 albums plus EPs, singles, compilations and live recordings, influencing countless other musicians along the way.
Alex Paterson and his band of merry pranksters pay tribute to the golden age of ambient house with subtlety, occasional silliness, and a slyly subversive edge.
The Orb issued more studio albums during the 2010s than they did the previous decade and get an early start on the 2020s with a characteristically sprawling double-LP.